Run by billionaire brothers
Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, Fortis expanded in countries from
Australia to Vietnam. But in recent years, the company has cut its overseas
exposure with sales of hospital stakes in Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore. It
has, in the process, reduced its debt levels. It is now looking to sell its
remaining Singapore interests, namely three hospitals--Fortis Surgical
Hospital, RadLink-Asia and Singapore Radiopharmaceuticals--which could raise
about US$150 million, the people said.

A Fortis spokesman declined to
comment, but said the company is focused on its home market. "Our stated
position is that we want to focus on India operations, particularly on
hospitals and diagnostics."

The Indian company first moved to
Singapore in March 2010 when it spent US$685 million to acquire a 25% stake in
Parkway Holdings Ltd., a health care
operator in the city-state.

But the investment was
short-lived. Just four months after they bought the stake, the brothers lost a
takeover battle for Parkway to IHH Healthcare Bhd., a hospital operator backed
by Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Parkway, which operates both
Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore, has been
aggressive in its Asian expansion. Last year, Parkway announced plan to build a
Gleneagles Hospital in Hong Kong.

The Singh brothers sold their
Parkway stake and made a profit of 116.7 million Singapore dollars ($92
million). Apart from that, Fortis has raised nearly another US$700 million with
stake sales. It sold its investment in Hong Kong's Quality Healthcare for
US$355 million late last year and unloaded Dental Corp. Holdings Ltd in
Australia for another $276 million.

In selling its Singapore assets,
Fortis is hoping to capitalize on a wave of recent interest in health care
deals in the region. Last year, about $24.7 billion worth of health-care deals
were reachedin Asia, according to Dealogic, a 72% increase from a year earlier
and the highest level of deal activity for the sector in more than a decade.

Asia's growing middle classes are
creating more demand for health-care services and private-equity firms have
taken an interest, due to the steady returns offered.

In India, health care deal volume
more than doubled last year to $4.7 billion. In Southeast Asia, volume more
than doubled to $1.9 billion.

Fortis has health care operations
in India, Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. It has 65 facilities
including projects under development, more than 10,000 potential beds, and more
than 240 diagnostic centers. Fortis says the Indian health-care sector is
growing at an annual rate of 15% and revenues are expected to hit US$150
billion by 2017.